The tasteless meal
Photograph taken from Unsplash
The aim of the project is to explore patients', especially COVID-19 patients', experiences of, and strategies around, changes in smell and taste in their everyday life with a particular focus on food and meals. The study is a qualitative interview study conducted in collaboration with the Smell and Taste Clinic at Karolinska University Hospital.
Description
The number of people with smell and/or taste changes has exploded during the pandemic, putting pressure on clinics treating patients with these problems. This project will provide a better understanding of the experiences of the target group. This in turn will give the health care system a deeper insight into these patients' problems and knowledge of which aspects are important to focus on in both counselling and treatment of the patient group. Furthermore, the strategies developed by the participants themselves, and which we explore in this study, can be captured by the health care system to be used as tools in the treatment of future people with smell and/or taste changes. Our hope is thus that the study contributes to informing the health care system and improving the situation for people who experience disturbances in smell or taste.